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REYNOLDS  | 


PART  7 


VOLUME  I 


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33n689 


MASTKHS  IJf  AHT.     PLATE  J. 

PHOTOGRAPH  BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  *  CIE 


JiKYA'OLUS 

TlIK  Ac;K  of  IA'XOCENCK 

AATIOXAL  GAl.LtaiY,  LOXIXKV 


MASTflHS  IX  AKT.      PI>ATF  II 

PHOTOGRAPH    BY    VALENTINt 


MHS.   SIl>UONS  AS  TUK  TRAGIC  MUSE 
GKUSVENOU   HOUSK,  IXJXUOK 


HASTEHS  XN  ABT.     PliATK  LII. 

PHOTOGRAPH    BY  HANFSTAENGL 


KKY.VOI.DS 

POHTHAIT  OF  liOKl)   HHATHFIEJL,D 

NATIOXAI.  CiAUl^KltY,    L.ON  IJOaf 


MASTERS  IN  AUT.     PLiATK  XV 

PHOTOGRAPH   BY  HANFSTAENGL 


KKVXOI.DS 
LADY  CtK.KHlKN    A  .\  1)    IlKK  CIIILUKKW 

NATIONAL  (;ai.i.i-;uv,  I,0N1)()N 


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Si 

8. 


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MASTEIRS  IN  ART.     PLATE  VI. 

PHOTOGRAPH   BY  BRAUN,  CLEMENT  &.  CIE. 


HKYXDI.nS 

PDKlUAlTrt  OK  TWO   UKXTLEMfUf 

KATIONAL  UAM.KKY.  lAtXDOS 


MASTKHS  IN  AJiT.     1'I.ATK  VTT. 

MEZZOTINT   BY   SAMUEL    COUSINS.   R.A. 


HKY.MlI.nS 

COl'.NTl'^S  SI'KXrKK    A.\l>   H F.H  CHIU) 

OWXKI)    IIV    KAJM.  Sl'K.VrEM 


MASTKRS  IKf  AKT.     PLATK  Vm. 

PHOTOGRAPH   BY    VALENTINE 


KKY.VDl.ltS 

iioitrHAir  oy  vi.-kxjl'xtkssi  CHOSHtic 

OWXKK   HV   SIH  t;iIAHI.h->4  TKNANT 


MASTERS  IN  ART.      PIRATE  IX 

PHOTOGRAPH    BY   HAMFSTAENGL 


HKY.\<H,n.-i 

I'dllTUAIT  OK   IIH.  SA.Ml'KI.  ■JOHXaOS' 

XATIOXAI.  t;AI.L.KHY.   I.O.VDOJT 


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POKTHAIT  OK  SlilJUSllUA  KKY.XOl.DS  liV    IllMSKLr.  f  KKIZI,  KI,OJ{KXCK 

In  1775  Reynolds  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Imperial  Academy  of  Florence, 
and  in  compliance  with  its  regulations,  which  |)rovide  that  a  newly  elected  member 
shall  present  his  portrait,  ])ainted  bv  his  own  hand,  to  the  Academy,  he  sent  this 
likeness,  showing  him  at  the  age  of  fiftv-two,  and  in  the  dre.^-s  of  his  Oxford  Uni- 
versity honors. 


MASTERS     IX     ART 


Jfctr  3Josf)tta  l^t^mita^ 


BORN    1723:    DIED    17 'J  2 
ENGLISH    SCHOOL 


E.     G.     JOHNSON  INTRODUCTION      TO     "REYNOLDS'      DISCOURSES" 

SIR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS  was  born  on  July  i6,  1723,  at  Plympton,  Devon- 
shire, where  his  father,  the  Reverend  Samuel  Reynolds,  rector  of  the  Plvmpton 
Grammar  School,  initiated  him  into  those  classical  studies  which,  later,  contributed  to 
the  refinement  and  grace  of  his  pencil.  He  early  discovered  an  inclination  for  his  art  — 
to  the  dissatisfaction  ot  his  father,  who  would  have  made  him  an  apothccarv  —  bv  dili- 
gently copying  the  prints  that  fell  in  his  way,  and  by  mastering  and  applying,  while  in 
his  eighth  year,  the  "Jesuits'  Rules  of  Perspective,"  and,  afterwards,  Richardson's 
"Theory  of  Painting. "  Overborne  bv  the  advice  of  friends,  the  senior  Revnolds  was, 
in  1740,  induced  to  yield  to  his  son's  preference  of  the  palette  and  brush  over  the  mor- 
tar and  pestle;  and  Joshua  was  sent  to  London  and  placed  under  the  tuition  of  Hudson, 
a  portrait-painter  of  more  vogue  and  pretension  than  merit.  Under  this  barren  source  of 
instruction,  however,  he  rapidly  overtook  his  master,  who  soon  contrived  to  make  things 
so  unpleasant  for  the  too  promising  pupil  that  he  remained  in  the  studio  but  two  of  the 
four  years  for  which  he  was  bound,  returning  in  1743  to  Devonshire,  and  setting  up  for 
himself  as  a  portrait-painter.  He  settled  at  Plymouth,  where  he  met  with  prompt  and 
unexpected  success,  painting  some  thirtv  portraits,  and  finding  patrons  whose  good 
offices  secured  his  future  success.    .    .    . 

While  at  Plymouth,  Commodore  Keppel,  to  whom  he  had  been  recommended  bv 
Lord  Edgcumbe,  his  Hfe-long  fi-iend  and  patron,  being  appointed  to  the  Mediterranean 
Station,  invited  the  young  painter  to  accompany  him;  and  he  accordingly  sailed  from 
Plvmouth  earlv  in  1749,  and  on  his  arrival  at  Leghorn  proceeded  to  Rome,  whence  he 
reported,  "  I  am  now  at  the  height  of  my  wishes,  in  the  midst  of  the  greatest  works  of 
art  that  the  world  has  produced." 

Revnolds'  practice  and  habit  of  study  during  his  two  years  in  Rome  were  regulated 
by  the  soundest  judgment.  Seeking  truth,  taste,  and  beauty  at  the  fountain-head,  he  dili- 
gently copied,  sketched,  and  mcntallv  analvzcd  such  portions  ot  the  works  ot  Raphael, 
Michelangelo,  and  other  masters  as  seemed  to  him  to  bear  most  directly  upon  his  chosen 
branch.  [He  paid  for  this  diligence  dearly,  for  from  a  cold  caught  in  the  corridors  ot  the 
Vatican  the  deafness  from  which  he  suffered  throughout  his  life  was  contracted.] 

On  leaving  Rome  he  visited  other  Italian  cities:  Parma,  where  he  fell  under  Cor- 
reggio's  influence;  Florence;  and  Venice,  where  he  remained  six  weeks  studying  the 
great  colorists  upon  whose  works  his  own  style  was  chiefly  founded. 

He  had  now  been  absent  from  England  about  three  years,  when  he  began  to  think 
of  returning.    He  arrived  in  London  in    1752,  and  took  rooms  in  St.   Martin's  Lane, 


'2  2  a^ajtftcrsin^rt 

afterwards  removing  to  the  large  house  on  Newport  Street  where  he  remained  until  his 
final  removal  to  Leicester  Square  (where  his  house,  number  47,  may  still  be  seen, 
nearly  opposite  to  the  site  of  Hogarth's). 

English  art,  as  a  national  art,  had  already  begun  under  Hogarth;  and  it  remained  for 
the  genius  of  Reynolds  to  mature  and  elevate  it, —  his  influence  extending  more  dircctlv, 
of  course,  to  his  peculiar  branch.  That  Sir  Joshua,  with  his  leaning  toward  what  he 
called  "the  grand  style,"  chose  portraiture  as  his  profession  was  due  partly  to  his  con- 
sciousness of  an  ignorance  of  anatoni}'  which  made  it  impossible  for  him  at  any  period 
of  his  life  to  draw  the  nude  figure  accurate!)-,  and  partly  to  the  fact  that  portrait-paint- 
ing was  then  in  England  the  only  path  to  substantial  success.  He  speedily  became  the 
vogue,  and  his  studio  was  thronged,  says  Northcote,  "  with  women  who  wished  to  be 
transmitted  as  angels,  and  men  who  wished  to  appear  as  heroes  and  philosophers." 

Reynolds'  life,  during  a  period  of  upwards  of  thirty  years,  was  one  of  unbroken  suc- 
cess. Other  painters  rose  fi-om  time  to  time  to  share  his  popularity, —  Gainsborough, 
Romney,  Opic,  Hoppner, —  but  not  to  contest  his  supremacy.  Not  to  be  painted  by 
Reynolds  was,  for  a  person  of  note,  almost  a  breach  of  duty;  and  in  his  canvases  we 
see  mirrored  the  men  and  women  who  contributed,  in  whatever  department,  to  the  emi- 
nence of  the  period, —  Garrick,  Siddons,  Burke,  Johnson,  Goldsmith,  Sterne,  Fox,  Bos- 
well,  Erskine,  Gibbon.  Philosophers,  statesmen,  actors,  soldiers, —  all  are  there, 
snatched,  as  it  were,  fi-om  the  midst  of  life,  the  expression  and  action  of  the  moment 
caught  and  held  in  suspension  by  the  genius  of  the  painter.    .    .    . 

/^     The  saddest  defect  in  his  portraits  is  their  evanescence.    Sir  Joshua's  "  flying  colors," 

/    so  exquisite  when  newly  laid,  were  partly  due,  no  doubt,  to  his  lack  of  thorough  ele- 

J     mentary  training,  and  in  part  to  a  fondness  for  dabbling  in  experimental  mixtures.    A 

J      firm  believer  in  the  "Venetian  secret,"  he  spent  a  great  portion  of  his  life  in  exploring 

S.      arcana,  the  key  to  which  might  endow  his  canvases  with  the  richness  of  Titian  and  the 

\    flowery  hues  ot  Veronese;   and  to  such  a  length  did  he  carry  experiment  that  he  utterly 

J  destroyed  several  fine  paintings  of  the  Venetian  school  to  trace  the  process  of  laying  on, 

/  and  to  analy/e  the  chemical  mixture  of  the  tints.    .    .    . 

\.  Sir  Joshua's  career  was,  as  has  been  stated,  one  of  unbroken  success,  and  it  is  in  the 
ascending  scale  of  his  prices  that  his  rising  reputation  is  most  readily  traced.  His  origi- 
nal price  for  a  head  was  five  guineas;  in  1755  he  raised  it  to  twelve;  five  years  later  it 
was  twenty-five,  ten  years  later  thirty-five,  while  in  his  later  years  it  was  fifty.  His 
industry  may  be  judged  from  the  fact  that  at  the  time  when  his  price  was  twentv-five 
guineas,  he  told  Dr.  Johnson  that  he  was  making  ^'6,000  a  year.  He  received  six 
sitters  a  day,  and  calculated  upon  finishing  a  portrait  in  four  hours.  One  of  the  speed- 
iest ot  painters.  Sir  Joshua  boasted  that  he  had  covered  more  canvas  than  any  preceding 
artist  in  the  three  generations  which  he  portrayed.  ^  Taylor  thinks  that  his  authenticated 
pictures  numbered  about  three  thousand;  and  Hamilton's  catalogue  states  that  there  are 
two  thousand  that  can  be  placed. 

-  Sir  Joshua's  life  was  not  without  external  honors.  In  1768,  when  the  Royal  Acad- 
emy was  founded,  he  was  elected  president  by  acclamation,  and  was  knighted  by  the 
King  (George  III.), —  an  honor  that  has  ever  since  been  bestowed  upon  the  holder  of 
the  office.  In  1773  ^^  '^^'^^  chosen  ma)or  of  his  native  town,  Plympton, —  a  distinc- 
tion, he  told  the  King,  which  gave  him  more  pleasure  than  any  he  had  ever  received, 
"except,"  he  politely  added,  "that  which  your  Majesty  so  graciously  conferred  upon 
me."  The  Academy  dinners  were  started  by  him,  and  his  celebrated  Discourses  were 
delivered  before  the  students  at  the  annual  prize-giving. 

In  1789,  when  he  was  in  his  sixty-sixth  year,  his  left  eye  became  suddenly  darkened 
while  he  was  painting  a  portrait.    Within  ten  weeks  its  sight  was  totally  gone,  and  he 


^  i  r    3  0  ^  I)  u  a    ^  c  p  n  o  I  b  ^  23 

was  thenceforth  compelled  to  practically  relinquish  his  profession,  taking  up  the  pencil 
only  occasionally  to  re-touch  the  many  portraits  which  had  been  left  on  his  hands. 
' '  There  is  now  an  end  of  the  pursuit, "  he  said  to  Sheridan ;  "the  race  is  over,  whether 
it  is  won  or  lost." 

His  final  Discourse  was  delivered  on  December  lo,  1790;  he  was  afterwards  seized 
with  a  hver  complaint,  and  after  a  long  illness,  borne  with  a  mild  and  cheerful  for- 
titude, died  on  February  23,  1792.  He  was  buried  in  St.  Paul's  Cathedral,  the  resting- 
place  of  Sir  Christopher  Wren  and  the  great  Van  Dyck. 

J.^MES      NORTHCOTE  "LIFE      OF     SIR      JOSHUA      REYXOLDS" 

IN  his  Stature  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  rather  under  the  middle  size,  of  a  florid  com- 
plexion, roundish  blunt  features,  and  a  lively  aspect;  not  corpulent,  though  some- 
Iwhat  inclined  to  it,  but  extremely  active;  with  manners  uncommonlv  polished  and 
[agreeable. 


X, 


EDMOND     M  ALONE  "LIFE    AND     WRITINGS    OF    SIR    JOSHUA     REYNOLDS" 

WITH  an  uncommon  equability  of  temper,  which,  however,  never  degenerated 
into  insipidity  or  apathy.  Sir  Joshua  possessed  a  constant  flow  of  spirits,  which 
rendered  him  at  all  times  a  most  pleasing  companion;  always  cheerful,  and  ready  to  be 
amused  with  whatever  was  going  forward,  and  from  an  ardent  thirst  of  knowledge  anx- 
ious to  obtain  information  on  every  subject  that  was  presented  to  his  mind.  In  conver- 
sation, his  manner  was  perfectly  natural,  simple,  and  unassuming.  Finding  how  little  time 
he  could  spare  from  his  profession  for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  general  knowledge  from 
books,  he  very  earlv  and  wisely  resolved  to  partake  as  much  as  possible  of  the  society 
of  all  the  ingenious  and  learned  men  of  his  own  time;  in  consequence  of  which,  and  of 
his  cheerful  and  convivial  habits,  his  table  for  above  thirty  years  exhibited  an  assemblage 
of  all  the  talents  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland;  there  being  during  that  period  scarce  a 
person  in  the  three  kingdoms  distinguished  for  his  attainments  in  literature  or  the  arts, 
or  for  his  exertions  at  the  bar,  in  the  senate,  or  the  field,  who  was  not  occasionally 
found  there. 

In  the  fifteen  years  during  which  I  had  the  pleasure  of  living  with  Sir  Joshua  on 
terms  of  great  intimacy  and  friendship,  he  appeared  to  me  the  happiest  man  I  have  ever 
known.  Indeed,  he  acknowledged  to  a  friend  in  his  last  illness  that  he  had  been  fortunate 
and  happv  bevond  the  common  lot  of  humanity.  .  .  .  While  engaged  in  his  painting- 
room  he  had  the  pleasure  of  seeing  and  conversing  with  all  the  beautiful,  accomplished, 
and  illustrious  characters  of  his  time;  and  when  not  employed  in  his  art,  his  hours  were 
generally  passed  in  the  most  pleasing  and  enlightening  society  that  London  could  pro- 
duce. Though  from  the  time  of  his  returning  from  Italy  he  was  very  deaf,  he  con- 
trived by  the  aid  of  an  ear-trumpet  to  partake  of  the  conversation  of  his  friends  with 
great  facihty  and  address;  and  such  was  the  serenity  of  his  temper,  that  what  he  did 
not  hear  he  never  troubled  those  with  whom  he  conversed  to  repeat. 

COSMO      MONK  HOUSE  "DICTIONARY      OK      NATIONAL     BIOGRAPHY" 

HIS  literary  work  consists  mainly  of  his  Discourses,  which  probably  received  some 
polish  from  Johnson,  Burke,  Malone,  and  others  before  they  were  published,  but 
were  essentially  his  own,  both  in  style  and  thought.    ("Sir  Joshua,"  said  Johnson, 
"  would  as  soon  get  me  to  paint  for  him  as  to  write  for  him.")    They  were  the  results    \ 
less  of  reading  than  experience,  and  are  distinguished  by  that  broad  and  happy  general-     ) 
ization  which  was  the  characteristic  also  of  his  art. 

They  contain  advice  to  students  which  is  of  permanent  value,  expressed  in  language 


24  a^  a  s  t  e  r  ?    X  n    ^  r  t 

which  could  scarcely  be  improved.  If  we  make  some  allowance  for  the  time  at  which 
he  wrote,  most  of  his  judgments  on  pictures  and  artists  may  be  accepted  now.  His 
ideas  are  generally  sound,  and  if  there  sometimes  seems  a  discrepancy  between  his  prac- 
tice and  his  theory,  it  is  greatly  due  to  the  fact  that  he  was  a  portrait-painter,  while  his 
addresses  dealt  with  ideal  art. 


Cf^c  art  of  Hepnollis 

LESLIE     AND     TAYLOR  "LIFE     AND     TIMES     OF     SIR     JOSHUA     REYNOLDS" 

TT  is  as  a  portrait-painter  that  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  won  his  fame  and  will  keep  it. 

\    X  In  his  subject-pictures  the  defects  of  his  technical  knowledge  are  too  great  to  be  mas- 

;    tered  by  any  countervailing  power  he  could  bring  to  such  work.    He  was  as  little  in 

earnest  about  it  as  was  compatible  with  his  honest  nature.    He  is  best  in  it  when  he 

comes  closest  to  portraiture. 

Apart  from  their  charms  of  grace,  beauty,  and  character,  and  looking  at  their  purely 
technical  qualities,  his  pictures  are  to  be  praised  with  great  reservation.  Fine  sentiment 
of  color  and  happy  disposition  of  light  and  shadow  can  rarely  be  denied  them  even  in 
second-rate  examples.  On  the  other  hand,  his  work  is  often  deficient  in  solidity,  show- 
ing flat-tinted  surfaces  instead  of  the  true  effects  of  graduated  color  on  salient  or  retiring 
forms.  His  earlier  works  (before  1770)  are,  as  a  rule,  better  in  point  of  modelling, 
though  not  of  effect,  than  his  later  ones.  That  charm  of  indistinct  outline,  which  North- 
cote  selected  for  praise —  "  waning  and  retiring,  now  losing  and  then  recovering  itself 
again," — is  almost  unfailing,  at  least  in  pictures  or  parts  of  pictures  from  his  own  hand, 
and  not  the  draperyman's.  But  his  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  chemistry  of  color,  and 
his  somewhat  reckless  ventures  after  effect  through  combinations  of  pigments  and  media, 
have  played  havoc  with  hundreds  of  his  pictures,  and  branded  them  with  the  stigma  of 
"evanescence"  even  more  widely  than  they  deserve.  The  cleaner,  in  many  of  these 
cases,  has,  I  believe,  far  more  to  answer  for  than  the  experimentalist.  But  Reynolds 
must  be  admitted  ignorant  of  much  that  to  painters  under  happier  conditions  was  rudi- 
mentary knowledge.  And  we  can  only  excuse  his  recklessness  in  experimenting  bv  the 
intense  craving  for  force  and  truth  of  effect  that  lay  at  the  bottom  of  it.  He  felt  deeply 
and  almost  impatiently  the  gulf  between  the  technical  merits  of  his  pictures  and  those  of 
the  great  Venetians  or  Rembrandt,  whom  at  different  epochs  he  worshipped  with  equal 
reverence.  I  have  no  doubt  his  inferiority  to  these  men  in  power,  in  mastery  of  mate- 
rials, and  in  certainty  of  method,  was  just  as  apparent  to  Sir  Joshua  as  it  is  to  any  un- 
biased judge  who  now  compares  his  pictures  with  those  of  Titian,  Rembrandt,  or 
Velasquez.  His  drawing,  too,  of  limbs  and  the  trunk  was  always  slight;  it  never  goes 
beyond  suggestion,  it  fi-equently  suggests  imperfectly,  and  is  often  quite  wrong.  But  he 
could  draw  faces  admirably  with  the  brush;  his  attitudes  and  hands  have  generally  great 
character;  and  even  in  bodies  and  limbs  it  is  astonishing  how  much  the  charm  of  his 
sentiment  and  color  blinds  us  to  careless  or  wrong  drawing. 

We  should  never  forget,  in  estimating  Reynolds,  that  no  painter's  work  includes  a 
wider  range  of  various  merit  between  the  best  and  worst  examples.  He  painted  such  a 
vast  mass  of  portraits  —  I  am  still  afraid  to  fix  their  total  —  and  employed  draperymen 
and  journeymen  so  much  in  repetitions  and  in  draperies  and  backgrounds,  that  it  is  very 
difficult  to  say  what  pictures  or  parts  of  pictures  are  the  actual  handiwork  of  the  master, 
even  when  the  evidence  of  their  having  come  from  the  Leicester  Fields  studio,  or  nest 
of  studios,  is  quite  satisfactory. 


.^ir    3^0^1)11  a    lllepnold^  25 

Estimating  Reynolds  at  his  best,  he  stands  high  among  the  great  portrait-painters  of 
the  world,  and  has  achieved  as  distinct  a  place  for  himself  in  their  ranks  as  Titian  or 
Tintoret,  Velasquez  or  Rembrandt.  No  English  painter  has  a  place  beside  him  in  this 
noble  army  of  artists  except  Gainsborough,  who  in  many  technical  points  may  be  pro- 
nounced his  superior,  though  his  range  of  power  is  far  narrower. 

JAMES     NORTHCOTE  "LIFE      OF     SIR     JOSHUA      REYNOLDS" 

TO  sum  up  the  whole  of  Sir  Joshua's  character  as  a  professional  man,  it  may  be 
observed  that  when  we  contemplate  him  as  a  painter  we  are  to  recollect  that  after 
the  death  of  Kneller  the  arts  of  England  fell  to  the  lowest  state  of  barbarism,  and  each 
professor  either  followed  that  painter's  steps,  or  else  wandered  in  utter  darkness,  till 
Reynolds,  like  the  sun,  dispelled  the  mist,  and  threw  an  unprecedented  splendor  on 
the  department  of  portraiture.  Hence  the  English  school  is,  in  a  great  degree,  the 
growth  of  his  admirable  example.  Delighted  with  the  picturesque  beauties  of  Rubens, 
he  was  the  first  that  attempted  a  bright  and  gay  background  to  portraits;  and  defying 
the  dull  and  ignorant  rules  ot  his  master  at  a  very  early  period  of  life,  emancipated  his 
art  from  the  shackles  with  which  it  had  been  encumbered  in  the  school  of  Hudson. 

His  pictures  in  general  possess  a  degree  of  merit  superior  to  mere  portraits;  they  as- 
sume the  rank  of  history.  His  portraits  of  men  are  distinguished  by  a  certain  air  of  dig- 
nity, and  those  of  women  and  children  by  a  grace,  a  beauty,  and  simplicitv  which  have 
seldom  been  equalled,  and  never  surpassed.  No  painter  ever  gave  so  completely  as  him- 
self that  momentary  fascinating  expression,  that  irresistible  charm,  which  accompanies 
and  denotes  "the  Cvnthia  of  the  minute."  In  his  attempts  to  give  character  where  it 
did  not  exist,  he  has  sometimes  lost  likeness;  but  the  deficiencies  of  the  portrait  were 
often  compensated  by  the  beauty  of  the  picture.  The  attitudes  of  his  figures  are  gener- 
ally full  of  grace,  ease,  and  propriety;  he  could  throw  them  into  the  boldest  variations, 
and  he  often  ventures  on  postures  which  inferior  painters  could  not  execute;  or  which, 
if  attempted,  would  inevitably  destroy  their  credit.  His  chief  aim,  however,  was  color 
and  effect ;  and  these  he  always  varied  as  the  subject  required.  Whatever  deficiencies 
there  may  be  in  the  design  of  this  great  master,  no  one  at  any  period  better  understood 
the  principles  of  coloring;  nor  can  it  be  doubted  that  he  carried  this  branch  of  his  art  to 
a  very  high  degree  of  excellence. 

The  opinion  he  has  given  ot  Raphael  mav,  with  equal  justice,  be  applied  to  himself: 
*'  His  materials  were  generally  borrowed,  but  the  noble  structure  was  his  own."  No 
one  ever  appropriated  the  ideas  of  others  to  his  own  purpose  with  more  skill  than  Sir 
Joshua.  Perhaps  there  is  no  painter  that  ever  went  before  him  from  whom  he  has  not 
derived  some  advantage,  and  appropriated  certain  excellencies  with  judicious  selection 
and  consummate  taste.  Yet  after  all  that  can  be  alleged  against  him  as  a  borrower  of 
forms  from  other  masters,  it  must  be  allowed  that  he  engrafted  on  them  beauties  pecu- 
liarly his  own.  The  severest  critics,  indeed,  must  admit  that  his  manner  is  truly  orig- 
inal, bold,  and  free.  Freedom  is  certainly  one  of  his  principal  characteristics;  and  to  this 
he  seems  often  to  have  sacrificed  everv  other  consideration. 

ANNA     B.      JAMESON  "PRIVATE      GALLERIES      OF     ART     IN      LONnON" 

HE  was  the  first  English  painter  who  ventured  to  give  light,  gay  landscape  back- 
grounds to  his  portraits  ;   and  the  first  who  enlivened  them  by  momentary  action 
or  expression. 

Yet  he  had  some  faults,  or  rather  some  deficiencies,  which  must  ever  be  regretted. 
The  most  charming  of  colorists,  he  wanted  some  consistent  principle  ot  coloring;  he 
tampered  with  his  palette,  and  tried  experiments  with  vegetable  colors,  which  in  many 


26 


a^  a  ^  t  c  r  ^    in    31  r  t 


cases  tailed,  particularly  where  the  inipasto  was  thick:  his  thinlv  painted  pictures  have 
stood  much  better.  He  never,  through  life,  could  draw  firmly  and  correctly.  He  con- 
fessed and  lamented,  with  characteristic  modesty,  his  deficiencies  in  this  respect.  He 
endeavored,  as  far  as  possible,  to  hide  them  by  the  charms  of  expression  and  sentiment, 
and  the  splendor  and  fascination  of  his  color;  he  partly  succeeded,  not  wholly  —  and 
never,  in  his  historical  pictures.  In  fact,  he  did  not  paint  history  well,  and  in  every  pic- 
ture of  that  class  which  he  attempted,  his  faults  of  design,  and  his  want  of  severity  of 
style,  are  apparent.    .    .    . 

But  his  fancy  pictures  are  enchanting;  they  are  so  many  bits  of  lyric  poetry,  full  of 
novel  and  graceful  ideas,  fiiU  of  amenity  and  sweetness;  his  parodies  and  adaptations  of 
certain  old  pictures  are  exquisitely  felicitous.  His  portraits  of  illustrious  men  have  the 
dignitv  and  authority  of  historv;  his  portraits  of  beautiful  women,  all  the  charm  of  po- 
etrv;  his  picture  of  *'  Mrs.  Siddons  as  the  Tragic  Muse  "  combined  both.  ...  As  yet, 
in  the  English  school  of  art,  Revnolds  remains  unequalled,  in  the  union  of  felicitous  in- 
vention and  variety  in  the  treatment  of  his  subject  with  fidelity  to  general  nature;  and 
in  a  certain  characteristic  grace  and  simplicity,  more  allied  to  mental  and  moral  refine- 
ment than  to  mere  conventional  elegance. 


JAMES     SMETHAM  "ESSAY     ON     SIR     JOSHUA      REYNOLDS" 

THE  men  we  see  apart  from  the  framings  and  contrivances,  and  limitations  of  art, 
are  puzzlingly  little.  Seen  against  the  great  backgrounds  of  nature,  man  is  nothing. 
The  generalissimo  ruling  among  thunder-clouds,  and  making  the  mountains  bow  on  the 
canvas  of  Revnolds,  is  but  a  speck  out  of  doors.  Man  has  to  dignity  himself,  and  to  the 
great  painter  who  can  do  it  for  him,  as  Reynolds  could,  he  will  willingly  accord  "cere- 
monies of  bravery  even  in  the  infamy  of  his  nature."  This  vast  desire  of  man  Reynolds 
was  able  to  gratify.  He  rendered  with  equal  perception  and  ease  the  politician  in  his 
robes  of  office;  the  mighty  noble  in  velvet  and  ermine;  the  wit,  with  his  jest  simmer- 
ing on  his  features;  the  student  poring  over  his  book,  or  looking  afar  with  contemplative 
serenitv;  the  country  gentleman  with  his  favorite  dog,  enjoying  the  repose  of  a  rustic 
seat  in  the  shade  of  his  ancestral  beech-tree,  in  the  gray  afternoon;  the  dilettante  finger- 
ing his  gem  or  his  gem-like  glass  of  wine;  the  man  of  pleasure  taking  it  with  easy  grace; 
the  fashionable  beauty  pillowed  in  state,  with  her  gray  towers  of  curl  and  plaster  and 
plume,  or  tripping  under  narrow  trees  that  bend  to  make  her  bending  more  graceful; 
the  actress  in  tragic  state,  in  saucy  surprises,  or  in  the  mere  lazy  luxury  of  living;  or, 
sweetest  of  all,  the  little  children!  It  is  in  these  that  Reynolds  reaches  farthest  into 
the  heart.  There  is  a  throng  of  little  ones  peering  at  us  from  canvas  to  canvas,  call- 
ing us  back  to  our  childhood  with  winning  smiles  and  \\ondcring  e\es. 

On  the  force,  and  dignity,  and  life,  and  naturalness  of  his  portraits,  there  was,  as  his 
most  peculiar  distinction,  the  crown  of  grace.  He  was,  as  Ruskin  happily  calls  him, 
♦•lily-sceptred."  Taken  by  itself,  and  apart  from  science,  we  might  almost  say  that 
Raphael  himself  had  no  higher  sense  of  grace.  We  pardon  even  his  incorrectness  in  the 
bewitching  fluency  of  this  element  in  his  female  portraits.  It  reached  to  the  disposition 
of  a  curl  and  the  flow  of  a  fold.  That,  and  the  sense  of  life  and  motion  which  pervades 
his  pictures  carry  us  away,  and  do  not  even  suffer  us  long  to  weary  of  his  works.  x'\nd 
it  was  just  that  exquisitely  balanced  mixture  of  outward  practical  sense  and  spirit  with 
the  amenity  of  a  graceful  soul  that  made  him  so  beloved  in  society,  so  able  to  please, 
without  flattery  or  loss  of  independence.    .    .    . 

Burke  says  that  Reynolds  seemed  to  descend  to  portraiture  from  a  higher  sphere.  It 
was  from  the  mount  of  philosophy  that  he  descended,  and  not  fi-om  "the  highest  heaven 
of  invention."    There  was  one  thing  he  had  not,  —the  perception  of  the  unseen,  of 


the  something  beyond.  "  Great  and  graceful  as  he  paints,"  he  is  "a  man  of  the  earth," 
seeing,  it  is  true,  all  that  is  noblest  and  best  on  this  visible  diurnal  sphere,  but  never 
quitting  it.  In  one  instance  —  the  portrait  of  Mrs.  Siddons  —  we  just  feel  the  inflation 
of  the  balloon.  It  strains,  and  rocks,  but  it  does  not  leave  the  ground.  It  was  Mrs. 
Siddons  more  than  Sir  Joshua  \vho  gave  the  spiritual  element  to  it.  Whatever  he  could 
reach  by  vision  and  taste  he  could  do,  but  the  gates  of  imagination  were  closed  and 
sealed  to  him.  It  was  his  calling  to  portray,  and  the  allowance  of  his  gifts  was  large 
enough.    .    .    . 

Reynolds'  methods  of  painting  were  chiefly  useful  in  the  wav  of  warning.  Many 
of  his  finest  pictures  are  already  blurred  and  blighted  beyond  hope  of  recoverw  His 
aims  as  to  color  and  texture  were  not  always  satisfactory.  It  was  his  practice  to 
lay  in  the  likeness  in  what  is  called  "dead  color,"  with  little  more  than  black  and 
\vhite;  over  this,  \\'hen  dry,  he  passed  transparent  varnishes  and  mixtures  charged 
with  the  tints  required  to  complete  the  color.  These  colors  —  carmines,  lakes,  and 
other  vegetable  hues  —  were  often  fleeting.  They  "sparkled  and  exhaled"  under  the 
power  ot  sunshine.  [Horace  Walpole  suggested  that  his  portraits  be  paid  for  by  annui- 
ties,—  so  long  as  they  lasted!]  Sometimes  the  varnish  \vould  turn  brown  or  green, 
and  ruin  the  complexion.  Sometimes  a  thick-headed  cleaner  would  fetch  it  all  off,  and 
find  the  caput  mortuum  below.  A  still  more  fatal  practice  was  to  lay  one  coat  on 
another,  with  materials  that  had  no  blood  relationship,  and  then  there  were  constant 
feuds  and  insurrections  among  the  pigments,  and  the  picture  was  rent  asunder.  "  Oh, 
heavens!  Murder!  Murder!"  says  the  ranting  Haydon,  as  he  spells  out  the  comical 
occult  recipes,  partly  broken  English  and  partly  Italian,  in  which  Sir  Joshua  recorded 
these  experiments.  "  Murder!  —  it  would  crack  under  the  brush!  "  His  pictures  have 
often  a  very  special  charm,  arising  from  ^vhat  Haydon  calls  "his  glorious- gemmy  sur- 
face." This  was  in  part  owing  to  the  reflex  influence  of  his  want  of  facility.  There 
were  ten  pictures  under  the  "Infant  Hercules;"  and  many  of  his  best  pictures,  before 
he  had  done  with  them,  had  been  so  loaded  with  coat  on  coat  of  rich  pigment,  rough 
and  intermingled  with  all  the  tints  of  the  palette,  that  they  were  ready  for  the  final  and 
magical  "  surface  "  that  enchanted  Haydon.  When  the  full  idea  was  seized,  then  came 
the  "lily-sceptred  "  hand,  and  the  light  brush,  in  its  graceful  sweeps  catching  the  upper 
surfaces  of  the  many-colored  granules,  permits  the  eye  to  see,  through  the  liberated  airv 
stroke,  the  sparkle  of  the  buried  wealth  beneath. 


s 


G.     JOHNSON  INTRODUCTION     TO      ''REYNOLDS'      DISCOURSES" 

IR  JOSHUA  REYNOLDS  is  the  painter  of  English  gentlemen,  and  English 
ladies,  and  English  children,  painting  these  to  perfection  and  painting  Httle  else  — 
save  charming  bits  of  English  landscape  to  set  them  in.  This  is  his  range;  but  within 
that  range  how  various  he  is!  He  is  the  courtliest,  the  most  graceful,  of  his  craft.  His 
portraits  stir  no  profound  thoughts,  challenge  no  inquiry.  He  rarclv  meddles  with  the 
deeper  moods  and  passions;  and  in  his  world  one  finds  none  of  those  sombre,  solemn- 
thoughted  people  of  Italian  portraiture,  faces  with  an  under-glow  of  smouldering  passion 
or  hidden  import,  like  that  of  Leonardo's  "  Mona  Lisa," — a  sphvnx-face,  with  its 
veiled  eyes  and  enigmatic  smile.  "  The  style  is  the  man. ' '  From  the  profusion  of  nature 
the  painter  selects  the  facts  most  congenial  to  his  temperament,  sequesters  them,  and  fixes 
them  upon  the  canvas.  Sir  Joshua  was  all  gentleness  and  afilibilitv,  one  of  the  most 
gracious  of  recorded  characters,  in  the  best  sense  a  courtier;  his  lines  had  fallen  in  pleas- 
ant places,  and  he  reflected  the  world  as  he  saw  it, —  a  trim,  well-kept  English  world 
of  park  and  woodland  and  cheerftil  vista,  of  smooth-rolling  greensward  chequered  with 
flickering  lights  and  shadows,  peopled  with  the  stateliest  of  gentlemen,  the  loveliest  of 


28  sr^a^tersin^rt 

ladies,  the  most  artless  of  children.  The  grace  of  Reynolds  has  passed  into  a  proverb; 
and  in  this  quality,  within  certain  limits,  he  is  equal  to  any  of  the  Italians.  As  a  painter 
of  children  he  stands  pre-eminent, —  thanks,  perhaps,  in  part  to  his  models,  for  no 
children  are  so  charming  as  English  children,  with  their  unspoiled  naturalness  and  daintv 
freshness  and  purity  of  color.  There  was  something  in  the  kindly  nature  of  the  painter 
keenly  responsive  to  the  humors  of  the  little  ones,  to  whom  he  never  failed  to  endear 
himself;  and,  oddly  enough,  no  one  has  rendered  so  lovingly  and  accurately,  and  in  such 
manifold  phases,  the  special  charm  ot  childhood  as  the  childless  Revnolds. 

His  greatness  stopped  with  portraiture.  Admirable  and  various  as  he  was  within  his 
scope,  his  scope  itself  was  strangely  limited,  petty,  even,  when  one  recalls  the  mag- 
nificent universality  of  a  Raphael,  whose  genius  swept  the  field  of  pictorial  achievement, 
taking  all  art  for  its  province.  .  .  .  Reynolds'  attempts  at  ideal  and  historical  com- 
positions are  failures, —  at  the  best,  pale  reflections;  sometimes,  it  must  be  confessed, 
mere  caricatures.  When  he  touches  the  tragical  and  supernatural  he  is  at  his  worst. 
Compare  the  grotesque  goblins,  the  paltrv  pantomime  terrors  of  his  **  Macbeth  and  the 
Witches,"  or  the  vapid  symbolical  figures  that  debase  his  superb  portrait  ot  Mrs.  Sid- 
dons,  with  the  terrific  forms  that  rose  at  the  beck  of  Michelangelo,  and  his  feebleness 
becomes  apparent.  But  sublime  as  Michelangelo  was,  and,  in  his  province  and  degree, 
incomparably  great,  there  are  few  of  us,  I  think,  who  do  not  turn  with  heartfelt  if 
shamefaced  pleasure  from  his  chilling  intellectual  sublimity  to  the  gentler  graces,  the 
•sweet  humanity,  and  familiar  charm  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 

COSMOMONKHOUSE  "THEACADE  M  Y "  :     VOL.     25 

NO  particular  advantage  is  gained  by  attempting  the  impossible  and  invidious  task 
of  measuring  the  exact  height  of  Sir  Joshua  as  compared  with  the  greatest  of  the 
old  masters;  but  it  is  pleasant  and  safe  to  assert  that  he  belonged  to  that  small  and 
choice  group  of  ardsts  of  all  time  who  have  done  something  to  enlarge  the  scope  of  their 
particular  branch  of  art  —  who  are  not  only  masters,  but  initiators.  He  was  born  at  a 
time  when  an  artist  of  ambition  had  practically  no  choice  but  to  become  a  portrait- 
painter,  or  to  waste  his  life  in  vain  rivalry  with  the  greatest  artists  of  Greece  and  Italy 
—  to  wreck  himself,  in  short,  on  the  ill-surveved  shores  of  **  high  art."  Sir  Joshua 
was  the  first  of  English  artists  to  comprehend  thoroughly  how  largely  the  charm  ot  the 
masterpieces  of  pictorial  imagination  was  dependent  on  the  knowledge  of  principles  com- 
mon to  all  pictures  without  distinction  of  subject,  and  to  perceive  how  greatly  the  artistic 
pleasure  of  which  portraits  are  capable  could  be  enlarged  by  distinction  and  vivacity  ot 
design,  by  careful  schemes  of  color,  and  by  effective  distribution  of  light  and  shade. 
He  had  the  wit  to  perceive  that  even  a  born  painter  like  himself  might  find  ample  room 
for  the  exercise  of  his  special  faculty,  and  yet  render  the  principal,  if  not  the  only,  service 
which  his  contemporaries  required  of  an  artist  by  the  record  of  the  faces  and  figures  of 
themselves  and  their  friends. 

When  he  went  to  Italy  he  studied  the  old  masters  intently;  he  examined  with  the 
greatest  care  their  methods  and  the  sources  of  the  effects  which  he  admired;  but  he 
made  few  copies.  Probably  no  artist  ever  learned  more  from  the  old  masters,  but  all 
his  knowledge  went  to  nourish  his  own  individual  artistic  faculty.  He  gathered  knowl- 
edge from  Hudson  and  Michelangelo,  but  he  was  Reynolds  from  first  to  last. 

He  painted  more  fully  than  any  other  artist  the  world  he  lived  in,  which  besides  be- 
ing a  world  of  fashion  was  a  world  of  much  taste  and  refinement,  a  world  of  much 
culture  and  manliness,  of  much  wit  and  wisdom,  and  of  not  a  little  genius.  That  he 
should  have  been  able  to  reflect  every  part  of  this  world,  and  one  part  as  well  as  an- 
other, with  no  small  portion  of  its  life  and  movement,  is  the  crown  of  Sir  Joshua,  not 
only  as  an  artist,  but  as  a  man  of  intellect  and  a  cultivated  gentleman. 


C|)e  Cngltsf)  ^ci)ool  of  fainting 

FROM    17  00 

THE  English  school  of  painting  is  the  latest  national  school  that  has  risen  in 
Europe,  for  the  modern  schools  of  Germany  and  Belgium,  though  of  still  more 
recent  date,  should  properly  be  classed  rather  as  revivals.  There  had  been,  it  is  true, 
English  miniature  painters  of  some  celebrity  in  the  reign  of  Elizabeth  and  under  the 
Commonwealth;  but  in  the  main,  English  art  had  depended  upon  such  foreigners  as 
Mabuse,  Holbein,  Rubens,  Van  Dyck,  Lely,  and  Kneller,  who  were,  from  time  to 
time,  employed  at  her  court,  until  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

English  art  has  excelled  in  portraiture  and  landscape,  not  in  works  of  the  imaginative 
and  creative  type.  Moreover,  the  English  mind  has  never  possessed  the  pictorial  sense 
in  a  high  degree;  and  English  love  of  beauty  has  found  its  outlet  rather  in  poetry  and 
literature  than  in  line  and  color.  It  is  natural,  therefore,  that  the  national  art,  develop- 
ing so  late,  should  follow  the  already  formed  literary  bent,  and  content  itself  with  ex- 
pressing in  its  painting  things  that  might  equally  be  expressed  in  poetry,  romance,  or 
history, — content  itself  with  a  story-telling,  an  illustrative  art,  rather  than  attempt  to 
controvert  a  settled  national  habit  of  mind,  and  force  imaginative  expression  into  a  new 
mould,  as  it  were,  and  become  creative  art  in  the  larger  sense. 

The  first  native  name  of  note  in  British  art  history  is  that  of  Hogarth  (1697— 1764), 
one  of  the  most  vigorous  and  original  geniuses  of  any  age,  who,  unrivalled  as  a  moral 
caricaturist,  and  essentially  an  impassioned  satirist,  was  also  great  as  a  painter.  His 
influence  on  the  art  of  his  time  was,  however,  slight;  and  the  honor  of  inspiring  the 
modern  Enghsh  school  properly  belongs  to  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (1723—1792),  the 
subject  of  the  present  monograph.  His  eminent  contemporary  and  rival,  Thomas 
Gainsborough  (1727— 1788),  was  a  portraitist,  endowed  with  much  originality,  grace, 
and  poetry,  and  a  high  color-sense.  Gainsborough  was,  moreover,  the  first  of  the  illus- 
trious line  of  English  landscape  painters,  —  a  branch  to  which,  on  the  whole,  the 
greatest  glory  of  the  school  belongs.  Among  other  painters  who  flourished  during  the 
latter  half  of  the  last  century  were  Richard  Wilson  ( 1 713— 1782),  wJio,  though  rather 
pseudo-classic  than  Enghsh  in  feeling,  may  be  considered  the  founder  of  the  EngUsh 
landscape  school;  and  the  portrait  and  historical  painters,  George  Romney  (1734-; 
1802),  graceful,  vivacious,  and  charming  in  color,  whose  best  works  are  bust  portraits; 
James  Barry  (l  741-1806);  John  Opie  (i  761-1807);  James  Northcote  (1746- 
1831),  the  favorite  pupil  of  Reynolds;  Henry  Fuseli  (1741-1825  );  John  Singleton 
Copley  (1737— I  81  5),  and  Benjamin  West  (1738— 1820),  though  the  last  two  were 
natives  of  America.  William  Blake  (1757— 1827)  occupies  a  unique  position  among 
English  artists;  hardly  to  be  classed  as  a  painter,  he  was  an  imaginative  artist  of  remark- 
able but  unequal  power,  who  lived  and  died  with  very  inadequate  recognition. 

The  influence  of  Reynolds  upon  the  succeeding  generation  of  painters  was  shown  in 
a  strong  bias  for  color,  which  now  forms  one  of  the  chief  characteristics  of  the  school. 
In  the  first  quarter  of  the  present  century  flourished  the  portraitists.  Sir  Thomas  Law- 
rence (1769— 1830),  not  a  very  strong  painter  but  highly  popular  from  his  brilliant 
and  picturesque  though  somewhat  meretricious  methods;  John  Hoppner  (1759— 18 10); 
William  Beechey  (1753— 1839);  and  Henry  Raeburn  (1756— 1823),  whose  portrait 
heads  rank  intrinsically  higher  but  are  less  popular  than  the  portraits  of  Lawrence. 

Contemporaneously,  there  was  developed  under  the  leadership  of  John  Crome  of 
Norwich  (1769— I  821),  known  as  "Old"  Crome,  an  influential  school  of  landscape 
painters,  which  was  called  the  Norwich  school.    Crome,  a  keen  student  of  nature. 


3  0  21^  a  £?  t  c  r  s    i  n    .H  r  t 

painted  English  scener\'  with  simplicit\-  and  power,  though  his  rendering  was  dry  and 
mannered.  John  Cotman  (i  782—1  842)  was  his  most  notable  follower  in  the  Norwich 
school. 

About  the  same  period  flourished  David  \\"ilkie  (  1  785—1841  j,  who,  though  some- 
what Dutch  in  choice  of  subject  and  constrained  in  method,  was,  next  to  Hogarth,  the 
best  painter  of  low  life  that  England  has  produced;  B.  R.  Haydon  (1786— 1846),  an 
historical  painter  of  genius  in  spite  of  marked  mannerisms;  William  Etty  (  i  787— i  849  ); 
J.  M.  W.  Turner  (1775-1851),  the  most  original  and  imaginative  of  landscape 
painters,  who  for  wide  range  of  subject  and  power  of  atmospheric  effect  stands  alone, 
but  who,  especially  in  his  later  years,  grew  distorted  and  extravagant  in  his  work; 
John  Constable  (1776-1837),  a  man  of  wide  influence,  whose  grasp,  sincerity,  and 
sensidveness  rendered  him  perhaps  the  most  capable  and  rounded  of  English  landscapists; 
Augustus  Callcott  (1779-1844);  William  Collins  (1788-1847);  George  Morland 
( 1 763-1  804),  who  painted  realistic  subjects  of  English  country  life,  and  moralities  in 
the  manner  of  Hogarth;  R.  P.  Bonington  (1  801-1828);  John  Martin  (1789-1854), 
and  many  others. 

Historical  and  genre  painting  were  cultivated  during  the  same  time  bv  Edward  Bird 
(1762-1819);  Robert  Smirke  (  I  752-1  845 )  ;  Thomas  Stothard  (1755-1834),  and 
others;  and  their  work  was  continued  by  G.  S.  Newton  (1794— 1835);  ^''  ^'  Leslie 
(1794-18 59);  William  Mulready  (i 786-1 863),  a  fine  draughtsman,  but  weak 
colorist,  whose  pictures  of  village  boys,  etc.,  are  still  popular;  Daniel  Maclise  (1811  — 
1870);  Charles  Eastlake  (1793—1865),  whose  services  to  English  art  were,  how- 
ever, greater  as  a  writer  than  as  a  painter;  and  others,  some  of  whom  also  painted 
landscapes  and  portraits  with  success.  Sir  Edwin  Landseer  (i 802-1 873)  holds  a 
peculiar  and  prominent  position  as  a  painter  of  animals;  but,  though  his  subjects  were 
highly  popular,  his  treatment  of  them  was  over-sentimental  and  commonplace  in  motive. 

The  English  school  of  water-color  painting,  which,  especially  in  the  department  of 
landscapes,  is  perhaps  the  best  in  the  world,  was  originally  founded  by  John  Cozens 
(1752-1799)  and  Thomas  Girtin  (1775—1802),  but  only  rose  into  prominence  at 
the  beginning  of  the  present  centurv.  Among  its  chief  artists  were  J.  M.  W,  Turner, 
before  mentioned;  Samuel  Prout  (1783— 1852),  celebrated  for  his  studies  of  architec- 
tural subjects;  Copley  Fielding  (1787-1849);  David  Roberts  (1796-1864);  Peter 
Devvint  (i  784-1 849);  William  Hunt  (i  790-1 864);  John  F.  Lewis  (i  805-1  876); 
George  Cattermole  (1800— 1868),  and  David  Cox  (1783— 1859). 

About  1847  occurred,  under  the  name  of  •' Pre-Raphaelitism,"  the  most  recent 
movement  in  English  art.  Its  leaders  were  ardsts  who,  ^^sociadng  themselves  with 
sculptors  and  poets  to  the  number  of  seven  in  all,  founded  the  "  Pre-Raphaelite  Broth- 
erhood," the  object  of  which  was,  as  stated  bv  its  most  earnest  advocate,  fohn  Ruskin, 
to  oppose  the  modern  system  of  teaching,  and  paint  nature  as  it  was  around  them, 
\\ith  the  help  of  modern  science,  and  ''with  the  earnestness  and  scrupulous  exactness 
in  truth  of  the  men  of  the  thirteenth  and  fourteenth  centuries" — whence  the  name. 
The  painters  of  the  Brotherhood  were,  primarily,  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  (1828- 
1882),  one  of  the  most  notable  for  his  strong  mystical  and  poetical  imagination,  and 
the  richness  of  his  coloring;  Holman  Hunt  (born  1827),  who  carried  the  pre- 
Raphaclite  love  for  detail  so  far  as  to  entirely  sacrifice  truth  of  ensemble;  and  Sir  John 
Millais  (  1829—1896),  who,  however,  soon  fell  away  from  the  Brotherhood  and  be- 
came more  conventional  in  his  methods.  Maddox  Brown  (  1821-1893),  though 
never  a  member  of  the  band,  followed  many  of  its  doctrines.  Edward  Burne-Jones 
(1833—1898),  the  most  notable  exponent  of  the  pre-Raphaelite  teaching,  was  a 
painter  of  great  poetical,  imaginative,  and  decorative  qualities;  Albert  Moore  (1840- 
1893)  was  a  graceful  follower  of  the  Burne-joncs  tvpc.    The  movement  as  a  whole 


\ 


left  a  powerful  impression  on  English  art.  Among  recent  English  artists  of  eminence 
we  may  mention  Sir  Frederick  Leighton  (i 830-1 896),  a  fine  academic  draughtsman 
but  deficient  as  a  colorist. 


%f)t  Wovk^  of  3^e^noltrs; 

DESCRIPTIONS  OF  THE  PLATES 
"THE  AGE  OF  INNOCENCE"  NATIONAL  GALLERY:   LONDON 

IT  is  rather  singular  that  though  the  "Age  of  Innocence  "  is  one  of  Sir  Joshua's 
most  familiar  works,  little  or  nothing  seems  to  be  known  respecting  it,  —  even  the 
date  of  its  execution  is  uncertain,  but  as  many  pictures  of  the  class  to  which  it  belongs 
have  been  assigned  to  the  year  1773,  and  the  following  ones,  it  has  been  supposed  to 
belong  to  this  period.  "If  it  were  only  for  his  love  of  children,"  writes  J.  Comyns 
Carr,  "  and  his  power  of  interpreting  the  fascination  of  childish  beauty,  Reynolds 
would  still  amply  deserve  the  fame  that  he  has  won.  In  a  certain  sense  he  may  be  said 
to  rank  as  the  inventor  of  this  particular  department  of  portraiture.  Others  indeed,  and 
amongst  them  men  more  highly  gifted  than  he,  had  painted  the  likenesses  of  children, 
but  not  with  his  peculiar  appreciation  of  their  charm."  And  another  writer,  F.  G. 
Stephens,  has  said,  •*  Reynolds  of  all  artists  painted  children  best,  knew  most  of  child- 
hood, depicted  its  appearances  in  the  truest  and  happiest  spirit  of  comedv,  entered  into 
its  changeful  soul  with  the  tenderest,  heartiest  svmpathv,  plaved  with  the  plavful,  sighed 
with  the  sorrowful,  and  mastered  all  the  craft  of  infancy." 

<«MRS.  SIDDONS  AS  THE  TRAGIC  MUSE"    GROSVENOR  HOUSE:  LONDON 

"TTTHEN  Mrs.  Siddons  sat  for  this  portrait  in  1784,"  writes  Mrs.  Jameson, 
VV  "this  unequalled  actress,  and  in  every  way  admirable  woman,  was  in  her 
thirtieth  year,  in  the  prime  of  her  glorious  beauty,  and  in  the  full  blaze  of  her  pop- 
ularitv,  honored  in  her  profession,  and  honoring  it  by  the  union  of  moral  and  per- 
sonal dignity  —  of  genius  and  virtue.  Of  her.  Dr.  Johnson,  the  sternest  of  moralists, 
had  said,  that  neither  praise  nor  money,  those  corrupters  of  mankind,  had  corrupted 
her.  Of  her,  George  the  Fourth,  the  most  fastidious  judge  of  manners,  had  said,  'She 
is  the  only  real  queen  —  all  others  are  counterfeits ! ' 

"  It  has  been  said  that  when  Mrs.  Siddons  went  to  sit  to  Sir  Joshua  for  this  picture, 
the  attitude  first  sketched  was  different;  that  as  he  paused  in  his  work,  she  turned  round 
to  gaze  upon  a  picture  which  hung  opposite,  and  placed  herself  in  the  attitude  we  see  be- 
fore us;  and  that  Sir  Joshua  instantly  seized  the  felicitous  and  characteristic  action  and 
look,  and  fixed  them  on  his  canvas. 

"Mrs.  Siddons'  own  account  is  somewhat  different.  She  savs,  'When  I  attended 
him  for  the  first  sitting,  after  more  gratifying  encomiums  than  I  can  now  repeat,  he 
took  me  by  the  hand,  saying,  "Ascend  your  undisputed  throne,  and  graciously  bestow 
upon  me  some  idea  of  the  Tragic  Muse."  I  walked  up  the  steps,  and  instantlv  seated 
myself  in  the  attitude  in  which  the  Tragic  Muse  now  appears.  This  idea  satisfied  him 
so  well  that  without  one  moment's  hesitation  he  determined  not  to  alter  it.  When  I 
attended  him  for  the  last  sitting,  he  seemed  afraid  of  touching  the  picture,  and  after 
pausingly  contemplating  his  work,  he  said,  "No;  I  will  merelv  add  a  little  more 
color  to  the  face."  I  then  begged  him  to  pardon  my  presumption  in  hoping  that  he 
would  not  heighten  that  tone  of  complexion  so  accordant  with  the  chillv  and  concen- 
trated musings  of  pale  melancholy.'  Sir  Joshua  complied  with  this  request,  and  added 
the  assurance  that  the  colors  would  remain  unfadcd  as  long  as  the  canvas  would  keep 


32  !ai^a^tcrj5inart 

them  together;  and  this  has  apparently  been  the  case.  The  tone  of  color  is  a  little  pale 
and  sombre,  as  suited  the  subject,  but  rich,  mellow,  and  in  perfect  harmony.    .    .    . 

"  Sir  Joshua  has  painted  his  name  on  the  gold  border  of  the  drapery  (as  some  of  the 
old  painters  painted  theirs  on  the  garment  of  the  Madonna).  Mrs.  Siddons,  on  exam- 
ining the  picture  near,  perceived  it,  and  made  the  remark  to  Sir  Joshua.  He  replied, 
with  a  sort  ot  poetical  courtesy,  *  I  could  not  lose  the  honor  this  opportunity  afforded 
me  of  going  down  to  posterity  on  the  hem  of  your  garment! '  " 

It  has  frequently  been  said  that  the  general  idea  of  this  work  was  borrowed  from 
Michelangelo's  "Isaiah."  The  two  attendant  figures  variously  described  as  "  Pitv  and 
Terror,"  "  Pity  and  Remorse,"  and  with  more  probability  as  "Crime  and  Remorse," 
also  suggest  that  Reynolds  had  in  mind  the  Sistine  Chapel.  There  is  a  replica  of  this 
famous  picture  in  the  Dulwich  Gallery,  another  at  Langley  Park,  Stowe,  and  vet  an- 
other in  the  gallery  of  Lord  Normanton. 

'<  PORTRAIT  OF  LORD  HEATHFIELD"    NATIONAL  GALLERY:  LONDON 

"  TT  was  as  Lieu  tenant-General  Elliot,"  writes  Frederick  Wedmore,  "that  Lord 
XHeathfield  was  known,  when,  from  1779  to  1783,  he  was  the  hero  and  the  or- 
ganizer of  the  defence  of  Gibraltar,  which  had,  as  its  result,  the  retention  of  the  rock 
in  English  hands  unto  this  very  day.  Lieutenant-General  Elliot  was  a  man  of  years 
even  at  the  beginning  of  the  siege.  He  Vv'as  sixty-two  at  that  time.  Arrayed  against  him 
then  —  and  for  four  successive  winters  —  were  the  fleets  of  France  and  Spain  —  some 
fifty  ships  —  and  an  army  of  forty  thousand  men.  In  1783  the  siege  was  raised.  In 
1787  this  portrait  of  its  hero  was  painted  by  Sir  Joshua.  And,  on  July  6,  1790,  Lord 
Heathfield  died  at  his  seat  at  Kalkofen,  near  Aix-la-Chapelle." 

"It  is  in  all  respects  one  of  the  finest  and  most  characteristic  portraits  Sir  Joshua  ever 
painted,"  writes  F.  E.  Pulling.  "  The  htad  is  full  of  animation,  the  figure  finely  drawn, 
especially  the  left  hand,  which  is  foreshortened  with  consummate  skill;  and  the  whole  is 
painted  with  the  greatest  possible  breadth  of  manner  and  vigor  of  coloring.  The  back- 
ground is  sublimel)-  conceived,  and  serves  to  throw  out  the  figure  with  surprising  force 
of  effect.  Volumes  of  smoke  obscure  the  atmosphere,  and  we  almost  hear  the  roar  of 
artillery;  a  cannon  behind  him,  pointed  perpendicularly  downwards,  shows  the  immense 
elevation  of  the  spot  on  which  he  stands.  The  circumstance,  and  the  keys  grasped  firmlv 
in  his  hand,  give  to  the  picture  something  beyond  mere  portraiture;  almost  an  historic 
interest  and  significance." 

««LADY  COCKBURN  AND  HER  CHILDREN"        NATIONAL  CALLERY:  LONDON^ 

*' TN  the  year  1775,"  says  Northcote,  "Sir  Joshua  finished  the  picture  of  Lady 
A.  Cockburn  with  her  three  children  in  one  group,  and  sent  it  to  the  Roval  Acad- 
emy. When  it  was  first  brought  into  the  room,  in  order  to  its  being  exhibited,  all  the 
painters  then  present  were  so  struck  with  its  extraordinary  splendor  and  excellence  that 
they  testified  their  approbation  of  it  by  suddenly  clapping  with  their  hands.  ...  I 
observed  that  at  the  commencement  of  this  picture,  the  whole  group  of  figures  was  so 
placed  on  the  canvas  as  to  throw  all  the  principal  light  too  much  on  one  side  of  the 
composition,  which  gave  it  a  very  awkward  appearance,  and  created  a  great  difficulty, 
as  it  required  much  consideration  to  overcome  the  defect.  After  many  trials  Sir  Joshua 
at  last,  with  true  judicious  management,  illumined  the  vacant  space  in  the  canvas  be- 
hind the  figures  by  an  opening  of  most  exquisitely  colored  landscape  in  the  background." 
This  picture  and  that  of  "Mrs.  Siddons  as  the  Tragic  Muse"  are,  according  to 
Leslie  and  Taylor,  the  only  ones  on  which  Sir  Joshua  inscribed  his  signature  at  length. 
In  both  he  has  put  his  name  on  the  hem  of  the  lady's  garment — "a  seal  of  his  own 
approval  of  his  work," 

'Since  this  account  was  printed  the  picture  has  been  sold  to  Mr.  Beit  of  London  for  ^"22,000. 


^ir    2r  0  ^  I)  u  a    JH  e  p  n  o  I  ti  jef  33 

"Technically,"  writes  Claude  Phillips,  "the  canvas  may  be  selected  as  showing 
Reynolds  the  eclectic  in  art,  but  also  the  master  who  indicates  his  right  to  borrow  where 
he  chooses,  since  he  can  assimilate  and  completely  make  his  own  what  he  takes.  The 
lighting  of  the  picture,  and  its  splendid  tawny  color-harmony,  formed  by  the  red  of  the 
curtain,  the  warm  flesh-tints,  the  rich  orange-yellow  of  the  outer  robe  of  satin  bordered 
with  white  fur,  the  gaudy  plumage  of  the  macaw,  are  Rembrandtesque  with  a  differ- 
ence—  with  a  more  diffused  light  and  a  greater  variety  in  harmony.  The  red  quality 
of  the  reflected  light  in  the  shadows  and  half-lights  recalls  Rubens  and  the  Antwerp 
school;  while  the  largeness  of  composition,  the  decorative  conception  of  the  whole, 
suggest  the  Venetians  of  the  great  period. ' ' 

<«THREE    LADIES    ADORNING    A    TERM    OF    HYMEN"     NATIONAL    GALLERY:    LONDON 

PAINTED  in  1773,  this  large  portrait  group  represents  the  three  beautiful  daughters 
of  Sir  William  Montgomery  —  the  Marchioness  of  Townsend,  the  Hon.  Mrs. 
Gardiner,  and  the  Hon.  Mrs.  Beresford  —  adorning  with  a  garland  of  flowers  a  ter- 
minal figure  of  the  marriage  god. 

Claude  Phillips  writes:  "Here  we  have  Reynolds'  peculiar  charm  and  his  defi- 
ciencies balancing  each  other.  His  art  is  not  equal  —  and  no  one  was  more  fully  aware 
of  this  than  himself — to  the  correct  and  adequate  rendering  of  these  figures  in  rhyth- 
mical movement;  but  the  heads  are  among  the  best  modelled  that  Sir  Joshua  has  pro- 
duced, and  the  naively  revealed  consciousness  of  youth,  grace,  beauty,  in  no  wise 
detracts  from  the  peculiar  charm  that  has  been  aimed  at  and  achieved.  The  picture  has 
quite  recently  been  cleaned,  and  very  successflilly  on  the  whole,  so  far  as  the  heads  and 
landscape  background  go.  The  looped  garland  of  flowers,  which  was  never,  it  may  be 
assumed,  from  Sir  Joshua's  own  brush,  though  he  may  have  heightened  it  with  some 
masterly  touches  and  brilliant  glazes,  has  now,  unfortunately,  emerged  too  garish  and 
crude  from  the  superimposed  varnishes,  and  wrongs  the  beautiful  faces  with  which  it  is 
brought  in  contact. 

"  The  great  canvas  was  a  commission  from  the  Hon.  Luke  Gardiner  (afterwards  Earl 
of  Blessington),  who  had  himself  given  sittings  to  Sir  Joshua  when  he  was  in  London 
to  arrange  the  details  of  his  marriage  with  one  of  the  sisters.  We  find  the  master  writ- 
ing to  Mr.  Gardiner:  *  I  have  every  inducement  to  exert  myself  on  this  occasion,  both 
from  the  confidence  you  have  placed  in  me,  and  from  the  subjects  you  have  presented 
to  me,  which  are  such  as  I  am  never  likely  to  meet  with  again  as  long  as  I  live;  and  I 
flatter  myself  that,  however  inferior  the  picture  may  be  to  what  I  wish  it,  or  what  it 
ought,  it  will  be  the  best  picture  I  ever  painted.'  " 

"PORTRAITS      OF     TWO      GENTLEMEN"  NATIONAL      GALLERY:      LONDON 

THIS  picture  represents  the  Rev.  George  Huddesford,  who  in  early  life  was  a 
painter  and  a  pupil  of  Sir  Joshua's,  as  well  as  a  satirist  and  lampooner  of  the  time, 
and  his  friend  Mr.  John  Codrington  Warwick  Banipfylde,  a  writer  of  sonnets.  It  was 
painted  in  1778—79. 

"COUNTESS     SPENCER      AND      HER      CHILD"  OWNED     BY     EARL     SPENCER 

PAINTED  in  1784,  this  picture  of  Lavinia,  Countess  Spencer,  with  her  son.  Vis- 
count Althorp,  is  one  of  Sir  Joshua's  "most  gracious  and  popular  realizations  of  his 
favorite  type,  — the  beauty  presented  in  her  maternal  aspect." 

"There  must  have  been  something  of  the  heart  of  a  child,"  writes  J.  Comyns  Carr, 
"in  one  who  could  so  win  upon  children  as  to  wrest  from  them  the  secret  of  their  un- 
conscious grace  and  beauty;  something  also  of  the  tenderness  of  a  woman  in  a  painter 


34  a^a^tcr^tfiu^rt 

who  could  induce  the  mothers  of  children  to  confide  to  him  those  unconstrained  and  ex- 
quisite images  of  maternal  fondness  that  are  the  peculiar  property  of  his  art.  We  must 
go  back  to  the  time  when  this  one  human  relationship  was  deeply  and  constantly  studied 
under  the  influence  of  religious  impulse  and  tradition,  to  find  a  match  for  the  sentiment 
that  inspires  these  designs  of  Reynolds." 

"PORTRAIT    OF    VISCOUNTESS    CROSBIE"    OWNED    BY    SIR    CHARLES    TENANT 

IN  the  year  i  779  Sir  Joshua  painted  this  portrait  of  Diana,  daughter  of  Lord  George 
Sackville.  The  picture  was  until  recently  in  possession  of  the  Crosbic  family  of  Ard- 
fert  Abbey,  Kerry. 

In  describing  the  work,  Claude  Phillips  says:  "The  picture  —  glowing  with  color, 
though  not  with  colors  —  shows  this  vivacious  lady  dressed  in  the  painter's  favorite  vel- 
lowish  white,  with  a  gold  scarf  round  her  waist.  She  literallv  seems  to  sweep  athwart 
the  canvas,  so  that  a  kind  of  uneasiness,  lest  the  view  given  of  her  fascinating  presence 
should  be  onlv  momentary,  oppresses  the  spectator.  The  attitude  and  the  suggested 
movement  are  as  audacious  as  anything  the  modernity  of  this  end  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
turv  has  produced. 

"  It  may  well  be  argued,  and  it  would  be  difficult  to  gainsav  such  an  argument,  that 
here  is  an  example  of  all  that  it  is  most  dangerous  to  attempt  in  portraiture;  that  to  erect 
into  a  principle  what  is  here  a  fascinating  exception  would  be  to  import  into  that  art 
which,  of  all  others,  should  busy  itself  with  the  permanent  in  aspect  and  characteriza- 
tion, rather  than  with  the  ephemeral  in  movement  and  gesture,  a  disturbing,  a  detesta- 
ble, element.  Yet  such  is  the  force  of  genius  that  when,  as  here,  the  tour  de  force  is 
successfully  performed  the  effect  is  irresistible,  and  the  critic,  reasoning  from  unanswer- 
able principles,  is  reduced  to  silence." 

"PORTRAIT  OF  DR.  SAMUEL  JOHNSON"   NATIONAL  GALLERY:  LONDON 

ONE  of  the  two  portraits  of  the  great  lexicographer  painted  bv  Sir  Joshua  at  the  re- 
quest of  Mr.  Thrale,  this  picture  formerly  hung  in  the  gallerv  at  Streatham.  Dr. 
Johnson  had  his  portrait  taken  many  times,  condemning  anv  reluctance  to  sit  for  a  pic- 
ture as  the  *<  antractuositv  of  the  human  mind."  The  portrait  here  reproduced  is  de- 
scribed by  Claude  Phillips  as  "  that  impressive  likeness,  so  characteristicallv  ponderous  and 
argumentative  in  aspect,  and,  with  all  its  realistic  heaviness,  so  wonderfully  full  of  vital- 
ity." And  he  says  flirther:  "  Sir  Joshua  has  permitted  himself  here  no  embellishment 
nor  idealization,  save  that,  perhaps,  he  has  put  the  Doctor's  wig  on  rather  straighter  than 
it  was  worn  by  the  original,  and  has  not  shown  the  shabbv  brown  suit  quite  as  unbrushed 
as  it  was.  This  is  the  very  type  of  Johnson,  the  argumentative,  the  irrepressible,  the 
overwhelming,  from  the  Boswellian  point  of  view  —  showing  the  Jupiter  Tonansof  the 
set,  at  whose  nod  all  but  the  stoutest,  even  of  the  Titans,  must  quake." 

"DUCHESS  OF  DEVONSHIRE  AND  HER  CHILD"  ROYAL  GALLERY:  WINDSOR 

GEORGIANA,  Duchess  of  Devonshire, —  "the  beautiful  Duchess,"  as  she  was 
called, —  was  the  eldest  daughter  of  the  Earl  of  Spencer,  and  was  celebrated  not 
only  for  her  beaut v,  but  for  her  gracious  manners  and  great  personal  charm.  Sir  Joshua 
painted  her  as  a  cfiild  standing  at  her  mother's  side,  again  as  a  bride,  and  now  as  a 
young  mother  engaged  in  plav  with  her  little  daughter,  Gcorgiana  Dorothy,  afterwards 
Countess  of  Carlisle.  The  original  of  this  picture,  first  exhibited  in  1786,  and  one  of 
the  most  celebrated  of  Reynolds'  works,  is  in  the  possession  of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire 
at  Chatsworth  House.  It  is  from  the  copy  at  Windsor  that  our  reproduction  has  been 
made. 


J»  i  r    -J  0  ^  I)  u  a    it  c  p  n  o  I  ti>  ?  i   '^si- 

THE      PRINCIPAL     PAINTINGS      OF      REYNOLDS,      WITH      THEIR 
PRESENT     LOCATIONS 

REYNOLDS  painted  about  three  thousand  pictures.  The  great  majority  of  them 
were  family  portraits,  which  are  now  in  private  collections,  and  many  of  these 
ha\e  never  been  publicly  exhibited  or  catalogued,  or  photographed.  It  is  impossible, 
therefore,  to  claim  for  such  a  list  as  is  subjoined  either  fulness  or  absolute  accuracy.  It 
has,  however,  been  based  upon  the  latest  and  most  trustworthy  information  obtainable. 

Boston,  Art  Museum:   Mrs.   Palk;  Lady  Louisa  Manners;  Lady  Louisa  Connelly; 

Banished    Lord  —  Chantillv:    Countess    Waldegrave    with    her    Child Chatsworth 

House:  Duchess  of  Devonshire  and  her  Child  (Copy  at  Windsor.  Plate  x) Dublin- 
National  Gallery:  Lord  Mount  Edgcumbe — Edinburgh,  National  Gallery': 
Edmund  Burke;  Sir  David  Lindsay  — Florence,  Uffizi  Gallery:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 
(Page  20)  — Glasgow,  Corporation  Galleries:  Death  of  Cleopatra;  Miss  Linley 
(unfinished  sketch)  —  Hampton  Court:  Princess  Sophia  of  Gloucester  as  a  Child Lon- 
don, National  Gallery:  Three  Ladies  Decorating  a  Term  of  Hymen  (Plate  v);  The 
Banished  Lord;  Angels'  Heads;  Age  of  Innocence  (Plate  l);  Infant  Samuel;  Anne,  Count- 
ess of  Albemarle;  James  Boswell;  George  IV.  as  Prince  of  Wales;  Lord  Ligonier;  Dr. 
Samuel  Johnson  (Plate  ix);  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (his);  Sir  Abraham  Hume;  Admiral 
Keppel;  Lady  Cockburn  and  her  Children  (Plate  iv);  Mrs.  Musters  and  her  Son;  Cap- 
tain Orme;  Snake  in  the  Grass;  Robinetta;  Lord  Heathfield  (Plate  in);  Man's  Head; 
Two  Gentlemen  (Plate  vi) — London,  Grafton  Galleries:  Portraits  of  Dilettanti  So- 
ciety—  London,  National  Portrait  Gallery:  Lord  Ashburton;  Earl  of  Bath;  Sir 
William  Blackstone;  Hon.  Edward  Boscavven;  Hon.  Edmund  Burke;  Sir  William  Cham- 
bers; Sir  William  Hamilton;  Admiral  Keppel;  Marquis  of  Lansdowne;  Edmond  Malone; 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds;  Right  Hon.  William  Windham — London,  Royal  Academy:  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds;  Giuseppe  Marchi  —  London,  Royal  College  of  Surgeons:  John 
Hunter — London,  Buckingham  Pal.ace:  Death  of  Dido;  Cymon  and  Iphigenia Lon- 
don, Devonshire  House:  Georglana,  Duchess  of  Devonshire;  Lord  Richard  Cavendish; 
Duke  of  Cumberland;  Margaret  Georglana,  Countess  Spencer;  Lady  Betty  Foster;  Group' 
of  Satirical  Portraits  —  London,  Grosvenor  House:  Mrs.  Siddons  as  the  Tragic  Muse 
(Plate  II);  Mother  and  Child — London,  Holland  House:  First  Lord  Holland;  First 
Lady  Holland;  Two  Portraits  of  Charles  James  Fox;  "Muscipula;"  Lord  George  Len- 
nox; Right  Hon.  Thomas  Conolly;  Duchess  of  Richmond;  Hon.  Caroline  Fox;  Joseph 
Baretti;  Lady  Sarah  Lennox,  Mr.  Fox,  and  Lady  Susan  Strangways;  Mary,  Lady  Hol- 
land; Earl  of  Digby — London,  Hertford  House:  Nelly  O'Brien;  Strawberry  Girl; 
Miss  Bowles;  Mrs.  Robinson  ("Perdita");  Mrs.  Braddyl  —  London,  Stafford  House' 
"  Hope  Nursing  Love;"  Sleeping  Girl;  Laurence  Sterne  —  Sir  Charles  Tenant's  Col- 
lection: Viscountess  Crosbie  (Plate  viii);  The  Young  Fortune-Tellers  —  Mrs.  Buchanan 
RiDDELL's  Collection:  "Crossing  the  Brook"  —  Sir  Charles  Mills'  Collection: 
Mrs.  Abington  as  "Miss  Prue" — Lord  Rothschild's  Collection:  Garrlck  between 
Tragedy  and  Comedy  —  Duke  of  Hamilton's  Collection:  Elizabeth  Gunning,  Duch- 
ess  of  Hamilton — Lord    Crewe's  Collection:    Kitty   Fisher  with   a   Dove" Mrs. 

Thwaite's  Collection:  The  Ladies  Waldegrave  —  Earl  of  Sheffield's  Collection: 
Portrait  of  Gibbon  —  Earl  Spencer's  Collection:  Countess  Spencer  and  her  Child 
(Plate  vii);  Lord  Ahhorp  at  the  Age  of  Four;  Richard  Burke;  Lady  Anne  Bingham; 

Lavmia  Bingham;  Lady  Spencer  and  her  Daughter;  Georglana,  Duchess  of  Devonshire 

Dowager  Lady  Castletown's  Collection:  "Colllna" — Earl  of  Yarborough's 
Collection:  Mrs.  Pelham  Feeding  Chickens  —  Lord  Mount-Temple's  Collection: 
"Infant  Academy  " — Lord  Fevkrsham's  Collection  :  Girl  with  Kitten  —  Baron  F. 
de  Rothschild's  Collection:  "Simplicity;"  Mrs.  Sheridan  as  St.  Cecilia  —  New  York, 
Lenox  Library:  Mrs.  Billlngton  as  St.  Cecilia  —  Ni:w  York,  Metropolitan  Museum: 
Hon.  Henry  Fane  and  his  Guardians,  Inigo  Jones  and  Ciiarles  Blair;  Lady  Carew;  Duke 
of  Cumberland;  Mrs.  Angelo;  Sir  Edward  Hughes  —  Salisbury,  Longford  Castle: 
Master  J.ac()b  Bouverie;    Mrs.  Bouverle  with  her  Ciiild;   Viscountess  Folkestone;   Countess 


3^:  •:•..• .'  91^  a  ^  t  c  r  ^    in    SI  r  t 

of  Shaftsbury  and  lier  Husband;  Ladv  Catherine  Pelham-Clinton  Feeding  Chickens  — 
Sevenoaks,  Knole:  Samuel  Foote;  Dr.  Oliver  Goldsmith;  Mrs.  Abington  as  the  Comic 
Muse;  Boy  with  Cabbage-Nets  —  St.  Petersburg,  Hermitage  Gallery:  Infant  Her- 
cules—  Windsor,  Royal  Gallery:   Garrick  as  Kitely. 


A      LIST      OF      THE      PRINCIPAL      BOOKS     AND     MAGAZINE      A  R  i"  I  C  L  E  S 
DEALING       WITH        SIR       JOSHUA        REYNOLDS       AND        HIS       SCHOOL 

BEECHY,  H.W.  Literary  Works  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London,  1852)  —  Blanc,C 
Histoire  des  Peintres  de  toutes  les  Ecoles.  (Paris,  1868) — -BoswELL,  J.  Life  of  Sam- 
uel Johnson.  (London,  1851)  —  Carr,  J.  C.  Papers  on  Art.  (London,  1885) — -Ches- 
NEAU,  E.  La  Pcinture  Anglaise.  (Paris,  1882)  —  Chesneau,  E.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds. 
(Paris,  1887)  —  Conway,  W.  M.  Artistic  Development  of  Reynolds  and  Gainsborough. 
(London,  1886)  —  Cotton, W.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  His  Works.  (London,  1856)  — 
Cunningham,  A.  British  Artists.  (London,  1829)  —  D'Arblay.  Diary  and  Letters. 
(London,  1854)  —  Edwards,  E.  Anecdotes  of  Royal  Academicians.  (London,  1808)  — 
FaringtoNjJ.  Memoir  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London,  i  819) — Jameson,  A.  B.  Galler- 
ies of  Art  in  London.  (London,  1844) — Johnson,  E.G.  Reynolds'  Discourses,  with  notes. 
(Chicago,  1 891) — Leslie,  R.  C,  and  Taylor,  T.  Life  and  Times  of  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds. (London,  1865)  —  Malone,  E.  The  Works  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London, 
1809)  —  NoRTHCOTE,  J.  Life  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London,  1813)  —  Phillips,  C. 
Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London,  i  894)  —  Pulling,  F.  E.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London, 
1880)  —  Redgrave,  R.  and  S.  A  Century  of  Painters.  (London,  1890)  —  Ruskin,  J. 
Art  of  England.  (London,  1876)  —  Sandby;  W.  History  of  the  Royal  Academy. 
(London,  1862)  —  Smetham,  W.  Essay  on  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (London,  1893)  — 
Stephens,  F.  G.    English  Children  as  Painted  by  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.    (London,  1866) 

—  Sweetser,  M.  F.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  (Boston,  1878)  —  Wedmore,  F.  Studies  in 
English  Art.    (London,  1876). 

magazine   articles 

ACADEMY,  VOL.  25  :  Sir  Joshua  at  the  Grosvenor  (C.  Monkhouse)  —  All  the  Year, 
VOL.  13:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds ^ — -Art  Journal,  vol.  6:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and 
His  Birthplace,  vol.  17:  Leslie  and  Tayhjr's  Life  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  vol.  41:  The 
Royal  Academy  in  the  Last  Century  (J.  E.  Hodgson  and  F.  A.  Eaton).  VOL.  44:  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  and  His  Models  (F.  A.  Gerard),  vol.  49:  Pictures  at  Longford  (  astle 
(C.  Phillips)  —  Blackwood's  Magazine,  vol.  8:  Farington's  Memoirs,  vol.  102:  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds  —  Century  Magazine,  vol.  54:  Old  English  Masters  (J.  C.  Van  Dyke) 

—  Cornhill  Magazine,  vol.  i:  Sir  Joshua  and  Holbein  (J.  Ruskin)  —  Eclectic  Re- 
view, vol.  10:  Northcote's  Memoirs  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  —  Edinburgh  Review,  vol. 
23:  Northcote's  Life  of  Reynolds,  vol.  34:  Farington's  Life  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  — 
Education,  vol.  6:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (F.  C.  Sparhawk)  —  Fine  Arts  Quarterly, 
vol.  I,  N.s.  :  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (W.  B.  Donne)  —  Gazette  des  Beaux-Arts,  1866: 
Joshua  Reynolds  (J.  Desrosiers).  1893:  Reynolds  en  Italic  (L.  Dimier)  —  Independent, 
VOL.  50:  A  Painter  Man  of  the  World  (S.  A.  Walker)  —  Leisure  Hour,  vol.  33:  Sir 
Joshua  Reynolds — Magazine  of  Art,  vol.  15:  The  Reynolds  Centenary  (R.  J.  S.)  — 
Month,  vol.  3  :  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and  Dr.  Johnson,  vol.  16:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  and 
his  Studio  —  Munsey's  Magazine,  vol.  16:  Famous  Portrait-Painters  —  Portfolio,  vol. 
4:  From  Rigaud  to  Reynolds  (S.  Colvin).  vol.  6:  Technical  Note  on  Sir  Joshua  Rey- 
nolds (P.  G.  Hamerton)  —  Quarterly  Review,  vol.   120:  Life  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds 

—  Scribner's  Magazine,  vol.  15:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  (F.  Keppel) — Spectator, 
vol.  57:  Discoursesof  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds.  VOL.  57:  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  at  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery — Temple  Bar,  vol.  5:  Englisli  Art  from  a  French  Point  of  View  (T.  Gautier). 


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A  GLOSSARY  OF 

IMPORTAl^T  SYMBOLS 

In  Their  Hebrew,  Pagan,  and  Christian  Foiins 
By  ADELAIDE   S.   HALL 

All  colors  and  most  minerals  are  emblematic,  as  are  many  numbers,  geometrical  forms,  astro- 
nomical bodies,  trees,  plants,  flowers,  animals,  fish,  birds,  insects,  and  mythical  creatures. 
The  significance  of  these  objects  is  arranged  according  to  country  and  bound  as  a  manual. 

THIS    BOOK   IS   OF   USE   TO: 
THE  READER 

If  he  enjoys  ancient  history,  travels,  or  poetry,  a  knowledge  of  the  s}rmbol8  with  which  these 

divisions  of  literature  are  replete  becomes  a  necessity,  else  the  most  interesting  as  well  as  subtle 

meaning  is  lost. 

The  Bible  contains  the  largest  number  of  emblems  of  any  history  ever  published  —  many  of  these 

are  unfamiliar,  while  their  bearing  on  the  subject-matter  is  definite. 

Every  ancient  cult  was  taught  to  the  unlearned  by  means  of  S3rmbol8  which  are  as  common  in 

Asia  to-day  as  in  the  fifth  century  B.  C.     These  Pagan  symbols  have  migrated  through  the  ages, 

and  exist  now  in  Christian  art  with  varied  interpretations. 

THE  TRAVELER 

In  order  to  comprehend  the  significance  of  architecture  in  ancient  or  mediaeval  buildings,  sculp- 
tures, and  paintings,  he  must  be  able  to  read  the  meaning  of  their  form  and  color,  as  well  as  the 
devices  used  in  connection  with  them. 

THE  DESIGNER.  CRAFTER,  OR  ILLUSTRATOR 

Ignorance  of  symbols  has  often  led  the  artist  to  make  a  ridiculous  design  when  his  intention  has 
been  to  be  serious. 

If  a  theme  or  story  is  mysterious  or  conservative  in  its  character,  symbolic  illustrations  (which  by 
their  vary  nature  suggest  rather  than  explain)  are  often  of  the  highest  value. 

THE  COLLECTOR 

Whether  a  person  be  a  connoisseur  or  a  novice,  he  must  read  his  Oriental  porcelains,  metal  work, 
or  paintings  as  much  by  the  symbolic  forms  with  which  they  are  decorated  as  by  the  material  or 
color.  _^____— __^_ 

The  author,  Adelaide  S.  Hall — better  known  as  Mrs.  Herman  J.  Hall — is  an  experienced  and  ex- 
tensive traveler  and  an  indefatigable  worker,  who  has  pursued  the  study  of  symbols  for  years.  Her 
own  understanding  and  enjoyment  of  all  forms  of  art  have  been  magnified  a  thousand-fold  by  the 
interpretation  of  emblems,  and  it  was  h  -  own  need  of  a  more  complete  and  simplified  glossary 
which  led  her  to  prepare  one  for  others. 

Mrs.  Hall  is  a  club  woman  of  national  reputation,  the  author  of  "  T- vo  Travelers  in  Europe,"  as 
well  as  magazine  articles,  and  a  well-known  art  expert,  teacher,  and  lecturer. 

Price.  Bound  in  Cloth.  Gold  Die.  Post.p&id.  $1.00 

BATES  &  GUILD  COMPANY 

144  CONGRESS  ST.,  BOSTON,  MASS. 


